The vast majority of the UK’s small business owners believe that they should be running events to support their business objectives (88%), yet less than one in ten (8%) actually does.

This is according to research from the self service ticketing platform Eventbrite, undertaken for Small Business Advice Week (31^st August – 6^th September).

Small businesses neglecting events as part of their marketing mix could be missing out on a significant growth opportunity: A separate survey of 2000 UK adults has revealed that 96% of people prefer interacting with businesses face to face rather than online, which highlights the importance and inherent opportunity for small businesses to make and benefit from a personal connection with their customers.

“For small businesses, building personal relationships with their customers is a key way to differentiate themselves from larger competitors, which are often perceived as faceless”, says Marino Fresch, Head of Marketing UK at Eventbrite. “Small businesses can easily build and reinforce these personal relationships by running customer centric events on top of their daily interactions with them, like a tasting or a class after opening hours.”

“The good news is that running events to meet this appetite for real interaction and to grow networks, audiences and eventually revenues doesn’t have to be expensive, complicated or time consuming”, says Fresch.

As part of Small Business Advice Week, which helps the country’s 5.2 million SMEs thrive in tough times with advice from both leading experts and businesses across Britain, Eventbrite has compiled some advice for those who are planning to run an event for their small business:

In order to have a successful event you must know your customer or attendee. Successful organisers understand why people would want to attend their event, clearly communicate those benefits in their marketing, and consistently deliver a good experience on the day.

It is important that you make the most of your network. It can be surprising what people will help you out with if you ask, especially if you include brand exposure for their business to your audience. Be sure to measure and understand which channels are most effective for marketing your event and only focus on those.

Always be different. One characteristic that successful event organisers share is that they stand out from the crowd. Find your niche and build your events around it.

Social media is an important tool and encourages those who’ve registered to attend your event to share their plans on social media. People naturally want to attend events that people they know are going to, so this is one of the best ways of boosting your attendee numbers.